Murray makes Qatar final

The Qatar Open final will see the Briton take on Stanislas Warwinka for the title.

05 Jan 2008 13:51 GMT

Murray will be looking for his first win againt the world number 36 in the final [AFP]

Andy Murray reached his second Qatar Open final in two years, after beating top seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-3.

Murray, the world number 11, will meet his friend Stanislas Warwinka in the final, after the Swiss caused an upset by beating reigning champion Ivan Ljubicic 7-6, 6-4 in the other semi-final on Friday.

Warwinka's match seemed to be over before it started, the first set going to a tie break and the second going with serve until Warwinka, 22, broke Ljubicic in the final game.

Murray, 20, began by being broken by Davydenko after three unforced errors in the first game. However, he came back mid-way through the first set using versatile play to counter Davydenko's challenging base line game and take control of the match.

Brit Murray, the number three seed, said he was pleased with the result after a tough match: "Each time I play against Davydenko I have to do a lot of running. He hits the ball great from the back.

"I had to try and change the rhythm of the match - play some lower balls, some higher balls - and when I had my chance try and rush him a little bit."

"After the first four or five games I started serving much better. That was really the key to getting back into the match, because I started of serving pretty poorly."

Davydenko said: "By 3-2 Murray started handling my shots. I didn't make a first service and made some mistakes from the base line. I started to be nervous and loose some concentration."

Davydenko, ranked world number four, said that he and Murray had used contrasting styles of play during the match: "I was trying to push him and attack him on every point. To be more risky in my play.

"He had good concentration and physically he is stronger because he is runnung more and faster. He tried to put every ball in to the court, and make no mistakes.

"He started putting stroke shots onto my backhand, and from this point I started to make some mistakes."

Murray appreciated that he was playing his friend and world number 36 in the final on Saturday.

"I practice with him a lot and I speak to him all the time. He's a really nice guy. It'll be nice to play him in the final, but I've lost to him two times before and I'm going to want to win this one.

"I think I have a little bit more experience than him in finals than him so hopefully that will help me out a little bit.

"But its been a good week for me so far and it would be nice to start the year off with a win."